The mystery surrounding the backstage antics at a music festival is enough to keep Agatha Christie or any other self-respecting who-dun-it author in work for eons but the reality is often somewhat different.
So for those of you who have not been fortunate enough to be acquainted with the backstage experience at Cambridge Folk Festival, I thought that I’d lift the lid on the secret world of the music journalist to bring you a glimpse of the reality and to dispel the myths.
It’s A Tough Job…
I know what you’re thinking; how hard can it be?
You get access to the UK’s largest festivals accompanied by a chorus of angels, front-row view of the stage from the comfort of a seated VIP area within crawling distance of a bar, rub shoulders with rich (and maybe not so rich) and famous artists, all for the princely sum of a few scrawled words and a camera full of blurred snaps.
Although it may sound like Nirvana, it’s not all fun and games. Seriously, difficult as it may be to believe, reporting on a festival is very hard work and the account above is actually a bit of a misconception.
Let me enlighten you…
In The Beginning
It’s not a simple case of buying your ticket and arriving eagerly at the exchange with it clutched tightly in your hand.
Press passes are rarer than rocking-horse manure and requests are scrutinised by the media team at the organiser’s administration office weeks and sometimes months before the event. The allocation of passes is not an automatic process with every request being strictly monitored and prioritised before the green light is granted.
The rejection of requests is not unusual and the unenviable task of assessing the numerous applications for the Folk Fest falls to the Marketing Department at Cambridge City Council. Christina McNally, who amongst others is responsible for screening the media, explains further:
“We get absolutely hundreds of enquiries for press passes. Being a small festival with an international profile there are people from literally all over the world who want to come and cover the event.
It is difficult to assess the requests and we try to ensure international, national and local coverage, as all are very important so that the best spread of coverage is achieved. We also try our best to accommodate everyone but there is a finite number so we can only do so much and inevitably there are some people disappointed.”
Appreciation
The media team at Cambridge are certainly amongst the best in the business where it comes to understanding the importance of good publicity and the role of the media in the overall success of the marketing of the festival.
This is not always the case and, incredulous as it might sound, some festivals actually charge the media for the privilege of attending despite the fact that the event will reap the rewards of the resulting publicity!
Rumours amongst the snapping fraternity about this year’s Glastonbury put a figure of several hundred pounds on the price of a photo pass and a total copyright buy-out of all images, creating astonishment at best and up-roar at worst. This whole fiasco is nothing short of scandalous with this definitely being a case of the lunatics running the asylum!
We’re pleased to say, though, that this profiteering attitude has certainly not been adopted by the Cambridge organisers and the media are welcomed with a warm smile, offer of a drink and a guarantee that their professional needs will be met wherever possible.
The Research Game
Approval for entry to the festival is only the start of the challenge. Fail to prepare and prepare to fail, or so the old adage goes, and nowhere is this more applicable than in journalism.
As soon as the artist listing is received, journalists jump into action to research the performers’ history, latest releases and to top up their knowledge as much as possible in preparation for the event and to bring you the latest news.
No stone is left unturned in this process and literally days of investigation can be ploughed into the gathering of interesting facts and foibles.
Neil King, intrepid Managing Editor of FATEA on-line magazine, more than lives up to his name on this score. Collation of artist information and the building of the website begins up to 7 months in advance to broadcast updates and news as it breaks.
Work then continues solidly throughout the summer and well after the event until all the features and photos of the festival are up-loaded.
It’s this dedication that is the cornerstone of a good publication and is necessary to ensure that events are reported swiftly and accurately.
Words, The Weapon of Scholars
Despite increasing restrictions from the tightening of privacy laws, the UK is still fortunate enough to benefit from free speech…and long may this reign. The essence of good journalism is ‘truth’ (although, undoubtedly there are some who stretch this definition to the limit with the invention of the odd fantasy) so the accuracy of the report’s content is critical.
With the onus of precision sitting firmly on the shoulders of the reporter, the entire festival is conducted with one eye on the event, the other in search of an exclusive, as well as a bountiful supply of note pads, writing implements and Dictaphone cassette tapes.
The relentless search for the scoop of the festival drives the dedicated scribe on to early morning liaisons with their laptop and evening classes in ‘ear-wigging’. Like the emergency services, there is no respite for the true professional writer, fighting to retain their literary prowess as it dwindles to little more than that of a toddler as fatigue sets in.
By far the best source of inspiration, as well as news and views, is the official artist interview. The decision in respect of artists targeted for interview is primarily taken during the research phase, although last minute, impromptu decisions are not unusual when an opportunity is offered.
Early request for interviews at the media room is essential and, being totally at the discretion of the artist, record label or management, your preparation may be futile if your balls don’t come up in the lottery!
Despite the best-laid plans of mice and CATs, agreement from artists is often spontaneous resulting in a scramble of activity to hastily re-arrange schedules and the recall that carefully harvested information, so vital to retaining any degree of self-respect during a face-to-face situation.
As the pressure mounts a split second decision to identify a suitable location is made with the artist’s ‘green room’ usually selected as a comfortable and quiet safe heaven. Other festivals are not always as accommodating. I’m still haunted by one occasion at the Summer Sundae Weekender, where circumstances dictated that I was forced to conduct an interview with Beth Orton with one finger in my ear and my Dictaphone gripped tightly between my knees!
Whatever the conditions, though, an interview is always an exciting situation, made all the more fulfilling when the artist is as genuinely lovely as The Proclaimers and Karine Polwart were during interviews this year.
A Picture Paints A Thousand Words
Every great story benefits from a visual element and the photo opportunities at a festival are boundless…and not just on-stage.
The entertaining performances of street theatre, off-duty moments of the performers relaxing and humorous antics of festival-goers all make wonderful subject matter.
But it’s in the photographer’s pit where the action gets hot. Access to the front of stage is highly restricted and despite the allocation of photo passes, a member of the festival staff escort the enthusiastic snappers from the media caravan to ensure that photos are only taken in the designated area.
With restricted space and limited time to create a masterpiece, the jostling for positions commences with 15 or so photographers eyeing each other up as if it’s ‘cameras at dawn’. The situation is further complicated by the inclusion of the BBC cameras’ dolly, which requires careful negotiation in the restricted light and dodging of the cameras when the film is rolling.
Other festivals avoid the situation where moving and still images are shot from the same area to avert anxiety and any possible health and safety issue. Perhaps the organisers at Cambridge would be kind enough to look at the allocation of space again next year?
But what is truly terrific about Cambridge is the height of the stage, providing perfect ‘shootability’, unlike some other festivals, such as Cropredy and Ozzfest, where the stage is some 10+ ft high, forcing some photographers to resort to carrying a step-ladder amongst their equipment in search for that great shot.
To the resonance of “1, 2” from the sound crew, light is metered and cameras poised ready for the appearance of the performer and the countdown of the minutes to the end of the allotted three songs begins.
There is an un-spoken protocol adhered to by the professionals, raising tension and increasing the pressure to get the best shot of the event. Flashes are forbidden, significantly increasing the degree of difficulty and movement is restricted so as not to obscure the audiences’ view or interfere with another’s photos.
The latter isn’t always easy and there has been many a catfight amongst the photographers. But this is nothing compared to the behaviour of some festival audiences with rock fans at Ozzfest for example, hurling urine-filled bottles into the pit making shooting there even more hazardous.
And Finally
The end of the festival doesn’t mark the end of the work for the music journalist. Far from it! As the stage is being dismantled and the litter is disposed of, the journo settles down for a bit of creative writing and the downloading or developing of the photos.
Of all the festivals I have covered I am please to say that Cambridge is quite unlike any other and is as much of a unique experience for the media as much as it is for the festival-goer.
